Ed Brubaker and Tom Brevoort break the seal on Fear Itself: Book of the Skull!

Published

Feb 17, 2011

Updated

Feb 28, 2011

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By Jim Beard

Before FEAR ITSELF, there shall come a prologue! The comic event of 2011 kicks off March 16 with an exciting one-shot, FEAR ITSELF: BOOK OF THE SKULL, written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Scot Eaton, that reveals the sinister secrets behind the Marvel Universe's biggest challenge yet!

“BOOK OF THE SKULL fills in a lot of the backstory and sets the stage for everything coming this year,” explains Brubaker. “Also, part of the story takes place in modern times, with Sin finding an old buried secret of her father's.

"[Senior Vice President of Publishing] Tom Brevoort suggested we do this prologue issue [to FEAR ITSELF] where I could do all the dark WWII Nazi mystic experiments and old castles and dark shadows that I wanted to. And I jumped at it!"

Brevoort calls the book an "overture to FEAR ITSELF."

"When the story that became FEAR ITSELF was first pitched by Ed and Matt Fraction, it was going to be a story that had parallel tracks set both in the past and in the present," says Brevoort. "And then, as we discussed it, the portion set in the present grew in both size and scale--to the point where it made more sense to do this segment set in the past as a lead-in, rather than trying to stretch it over too many issues or compromise it in some way.

"It's setting the stage, establishing some of the backstory and introducing one of the principle players--all within the context of an exciting super hero story, of course! The Skull is hoping to harness a legendary source of power, and use it to further the Axis cause."

"He's up to evil," adds Brubaker. "Any specifics will spoil the story, but I will say it ties into Nazi mysticism. The types of things Hitler's people really were doing."

Beyond the Red Skull, one of the most classic and feared of all Marvel villains, and an appearance by his World War II rival, Baron Zemo, readers can expect to see many classic WWII heroes, including Captain America, Namor the Sub-Mariner and that war-time super team, the Invaders. The heroes will witness many of the Nazi mastermind’s atrocities, and act accordingly.

"Well, it's the Red Skull, and he's doing stuff, so these guys don't really need much more of a reason to go after him," notes Brevoort. "But, what's going on is far larger and has far greater ramifications than they realize."

"They're chasing the Red Skull because they found out he's been experimenting on Atlanteans for some nefarious reasons," Brubaker adds chillingly.

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